


faded ink

by windbellows



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windbellows/pseuds/windbellows
Summary: There's something about the aged picture - he rubs his thumb over their faces, gently. Maybe he knew them once.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	faded ink

He finds the picture tucked to the side of a chest down the Zora River, underneath a lump of amber. It’s remarkably well kept, and despite missing almost an entire half and slightly faded with the years, Link can make out the figures in it perfectly fine; a little girl and an older man. There was someone standing next to them at one point, but the section with their face and body is gone and all Link can see is their boots. He pockets the picture. 

\--

It doesn’t sell at all, Link soon realizes. No one is in desperate need of an old picture, or willing to trade wares for it. Maybe there’s a merchant out there. Pikango, maybe, might be looking for a torn and aged picture of what Link thinks is a family. But then again, he's a little unwilling to part with it.

The fire casts a warm light over the picture in his hands - he’s taken to looking at it sometimes, late at night. There’s something about it. He rubs his thumb over their faces, gently. Maybe he knew them once. The little girl grins up at him from the ancient paper, and for a sudden second Link can hear cuccos, and laughter, and even fainter the sound of the sea and then it’s gone, and he’s still sitting by the fire. The girl smiles, frozen in time. A captured memory. He sinks into an uneasy sleep, picture clenched in his hands. 

\--

(Later, Zelda asks if he remembers his family; he shakes his head, and her face falls. “Oh,” she says softly. Neither of them know what to say.

“You…” she starts and then trails off. “Would you like me to tell you about them?” He nods. 

“I met them occasionally. Your father was a retired knight, and your mother was lovely - she had a way with horses. After your father left his position, he moved back to his old farm.” She pauses. “You had a little sister. She… she loved you a lot. They all did.” 

It all comes crashing down at once and he _remembers_ \- Zelda repeats desperate apologies and moves to hold him as Link shakes, head in hands, he wants to comfort her and tell her it’s not her fault and as the tears trickle little by little for the first time in a century the young girl smiles from the picture, folded away in Link’s pocket. It hasn’t torn.)

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of [the concept art of Link with his sister and father](https://i.redd.it/gxv2nk8q7dn01.jpg)


End file.
